Re: 64 - is this the only number that is both a sq and a cube?
From: Stan Brown (the_stan_brown_at_fastmail.fm)
Date: 09/21/04
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Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 20:06:36 -0400
"Bob Silverman" <anonymous@mathforum.org> wrote in sci.math:
>Does "complete layman" = "complete moron"??? [no flame intended
>toward original poster]
>
>The question asked is a simple one that should be able to be
>answered by anyone who has taken/passed a year of algebra. The last
>time I looked, the minimum requirement for graduating high school in the U.S. [any high school] was two years of math...
>
>Answering this question only requires simple arithmetic. If a high
>school graduate can not answer it, it speaks very poorly of the
>high school math teachers......
I teach math at Tompkins Cortland Community College.
Last night I tutored a student -- a bright, motivated student -- in
his precalculus homework. He had to multiply out (x-3)^2 (x+2)^3.
All he knew was to multiply (x-3)(x-3)(x+2)(x+2)(x+2); the cube and
even the square of a binomial were unknown to him.
He's the norm, not the exception. Hardly any of the students I see,
even the better ones, know (x+y)^2 = x^2+2xy+y^2 without multiplying
out the factors by "FOIL". These are all students who have been
through two years of high-school algebra, or more.
I don't think it's fair to blame the HS math teachers, though. I
believe the basic problem is that students don't get enough
homework. The only way I know to learn math (through calculus,
anyway) is like the old joke about Carnegie Hall: practice,
practice, practice. Teachers aren't allowed to assign enough
homework, and when they do the students don't do it and principals
back down under parental pressure.
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
A: Maybe because some people are too annoyed by top-posting.
Q: Why do I not get an answer to my question(s)?
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read
text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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